I sat here tonight remembering Christmas' of my childhood and how so much has changed since then.
It seems to me as I think back that things were so much more simpler and people were more caring to their fellow man!
I remember a warm fire in a old wood cook fire and popping corn in a big black cast iron dutch oven, then sitting for hours stringing it into long ropes for the tree. I have to admit that much of it was eaten on its trip from the pot to my hands! Sometimes we got to make popcorn balls if there was any left after all the munching.
Then there were the paper ropes we made. Those were usually made at school because there was construction paper available there. Sometimes my sister and I would cut hundreds of strips of paper and color them then ever shade of the rainbow then glue them together with home-made glue.
The best part was getting to go and help select, cut and drag home that special tree! For me it was a blessing and a curse! I was always ready to go, and was on my best behavior all week so I was allowed. If we were caught miss-behaving we would have to stay home and wait for it to get there.
Living way out in the country there were few pleasure's to be had and each one was guarded with the up most care.
I was always allergic to cedar and pine. I loved the smell but one touch and I was beet red and blotchy for weeks not to mention that my eyes watered and it could get hard to breathe! But oh, to be the one that found that one perfect tree!
We weren't rich by any stretch of the imagination! About the only new thing we could count on were new shoes. Most of our gifts were either home made or bought from a second hand store. To us, they were the very best! They were hard to come by and maybe that made them all the more special.
I remember getting a new doll when I was about six years old. She was so tall and had on a green velvet dress and a plaid vest with a frilly white long sleeved shirt!
The Christmas balls were made of acorns and walnuts that we had painted and put holes in to hang. We always got to eat the walnuts after Christmas was over.
It was so much fun making making our own Christmas cards! I've continued that tradition today. I keep every card I receive and then after Christmas I cut off the pictures. Then they are placed on construction paper and glitter is added as well as a poem I have written for the occasion. My grand-daughter loves helping me make them and put them all together. It's a special time we can spend together! It would be so much easier to just run to the store and buy a box to send out but that time spent with her would be lost.
I think one of my best memories is on Christmas eve climbing on the back of a flat bed wagon with friends and family and being pulled around by horses to sing Christmas carols. Lips were blue and we were shivering by the time it was time to go home but none of us would have stayed home for anything!
Some of those special memories include the plays at school and then the one we always had at church. Back then, God was a part of the celebration! It wasn't taboo to speak his name in school.
Now we are all so worried about offending someone! Rather than say Merry Christmas, many are saying seasons greeting. It seems God has been erased out of our celebration, when it is because of his sacrifice that we celebrate at all! The real reason we celebrate is clouded in bows and paper, money spent and gifts given or received.
Christmas dinner consisted of a big old Tom Turkey that had been chosen just for the occasion. He was nabbed at dawn and Grandpa would ring his neck, clean him and then he was soaked in scalding water and plucked. It was a pretty bloody and stinky afair! It was never a good idea to get to attached to any animal or you might find yourself one day having to choke it down! A chicken was also caught to cook for her meat and to make dressing with.
We had sweet potatoes and regular potatoes as well as all the other veggies we would find on our table. The fresh baked bread and rolls were to die for! Fresh and hot dripping with fresh churned butter and honey if you wanted it. There was always candied yams, cobblers of apple and peach from near by trees.
It was a lot of hard work to get the dinner together but everyone helped. We always sang Christmas carols as we cooked and there was lots of talking and goofing off.
I remember fresh made cookies and jelly and jams that had been put up from our gardens fruit bounty! I still try to can some jam's still yet today. Somehow they just always taste better on a hot biscuit heavy with churned butter.
Anyone that came to dinner was welcome and everyone brought their own special treat from home to share with everyone else. It was a family time, a time for friends and to count your blessings and to ask Gods blessing for the coming year.
Christmas eve night all us kids would sit around to hear the story of Jesus birth. It was a story that never grew old and is still fresh and beautiful even today!
The Sunday closest to Christmas was always a special time. We would get dressed up in our very best dresses and our faces were full of smiles. At the end of the service we were always given a brown paper bag full of nuts, ribbon candy as well as an apple and a orange. In our Sunday school class we would draw names and exchange gifts the other children in our class. No one ever went home empty handed!
Mistletoe was gathered off of trees. There were lots of laughs when someone got caught under it and got a big kiss!
Yes, memories of Christmas pass still brings a smile and a longing to my heart!
I believe the best gift we can give our children is the real meaning for the celebration.
The best gift we can give is to lend a helping hand to those less blessed. It is in the giving that we are blessed the most!
©2005 Tina Clark
